Protecting U.S. Food Supplies from Invasive Pests
As agricultural minister-counselor in New Delhi, Allan Mustard oversaw U.S. Department of Agriculture programs to keep invasive pests such as khapra beetles, a serious threat to American grain supplies, out of India’s agricultural shipments to the United States.
After growing up on a dairy farm on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, Allan Mustard joined the Foreign Agricultural Service. When he arrived in India in 2011, he was responsible for ensuring that local exporters of products such as basmati rice and mangoes met rigorous standards set by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), requirements that protect American agriculture from dangerous pests. “India,” Mustard recalled, “is home of the khapra beetle, which is the absolute worst quarantine pest you can imagine.” Because of its ability to infest stored grains and damage crops, the khapra beetle poses a significant threat to U.S. farms.
“India is home of the khapra beetle, which is the absolute worst quarantine pest you can imagine.”
Allan Mustard
One of the key steps was that basmati rice could only come from facilities meeting APHIS standards, which included using stainless steel silos for storing the rice in bulk, and polypropylene bags instead of much more common burlap bags for shipping. A common packaging material in India, burlap provided a perfect habitat for the khapra beetle to breed and infest rice. While producers complained about the extra cost of polypropylene bags and upgraded storage, Mustard’s position was clear: these measures were non-negotiable. India’s basmati rice was welcome in the United States, but not its khapra beetles. This was not just about enforcing rules—it was about protecting America’s food supply.
The situation was similar for the export of India’s mangoes, a favorite in the U.S., especially within the Indian diaspora. “Everything had to go through a radiation facility to sterilize any insect pests [such as fruit flies] that were in the mangoes,” Mustard explained. “That way, when the mangoes arrived in the United States, if live insects came out, they would be sterilized, they wouldn’t be able to reproduce.” This process, however, was costly, requiring mangoes to be transported to a central irradiation facility, inspected by APHIS, and then shipped by air to the U.S. due to the short shelf life of mangoes.
When exporters complained that the extra costs of irradiation and inspection meant they couldn’t compete with cheaper mangoes from Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Haiti, Mustard remained resolute. He sat down with them to calculate the added costs, and found that the real difference in price was the large mark-ups in the sale price by Indian-American importers.
By ensuring that pest control measures were enforced consistently, Mustard balanced trade with the protection of U.S. farms. He facilitated the availability of Indian products on the U.S. market while safeguarding American agriculture from the dangers of invasive pests like the khapra beetle.
